First stop: Disney's California Adventure for my favorite meal anywhere at the Disneyland Resort: The Newport Nicoise salad at the Pacific Wharf Bakery. It's a fantastic combination of tuna, new potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and kalamata olives over a bed of lettuce served in a freshly-baked sourdough bread bowl.

That's my favorite, anyway. Tim always gets the clam chowder in the bread bowl. (Incidentally, did you know that the word chowder comes from the French word chaudron, which means "cauldron"? I learned that in a fascinating book I'm reading ... more on that another day).

Fireworks soar above Sleeping Beauty's Castle. (07/15/05)

Afterward, we headed across the way to Disneyland park to watch the new fireworks show: "Remember ... Dreams Come True." This new fireworks display is a spectacular celebration honoring 50 golden years and is simply fantastic. The picture simply does not do it justice.

Afterward, we tried to ride Space Mountain, which just re-opened after being renovated for the last three years. Emphasis on the word "tried." When we saw that the wait was 190 minutes (yes, you read that correctly ... 190 minutes, which for the math-challenged out there is over three hours), we decided to try again another day.